All Pop, No Culture

This week, Kevin and Andrew cover Madame Web, The Greatest Night in Pop, and LOST Season 5, with Players and The Last Voyage of the Demeter peppered in there for some extra seasoning. The episode leads off with Kevin breaking down the good, the bad, and the ugly details of Madame Web. Is it as bad as everyone is saying? Maybe. Are there some redeeming parts? Also maybe. Just have a watch and see. Andrew then jumps in to discuss the new documentary, The Greatest Night in Pop. It's a documentary about the frantic and almost magical creation of the 80's super hit, We Are the World. Andrew has a lot to say on the subject, as does Michael Jackson himself in a rare appearance on the APNC show after the credits.  Kevin quickly gives reviews for Players, a new RomCom on Netflix, and The Last Voyage of the Demeter, which is now streaming. Both reviews are generally favorable so go give both of those a watch if you are so inclined! The episode closes with a lengthy breakdown of season 5 (and some of season 6) of LOST a

Remember that one time someone left out a petri dish and it got all moldy and they ended up discovering penicillin? This episode is like that, but instead Kevin turned a great idea into moldy garbage... But, in an effort at full disclosure, he explains why it's garbage and why he did what he did. Bad Kevin... Anyways, the idea behind this episode is a Valentines Day/RomCom recommendation episode. And so, in keeping with THAT part of the episode, Kevin asked the whole APNC team, including newcomer Lauren, what their favorite RomComs are. They came in as follows: Andy - Say Anything Jen and Kim - Crazy Stupid Love Andrew - Just Friends Lauren - Bridget Jones Diary Kevin - Failure to Launch If you take nothing else away from this episode, please take away that these are all fun movies. Great RomComs for you to watch whether you are spending V-Day alone or with someone you love (or hate?). Now, for the episode itself... Let's be honest, it's a mess. But Kevin owns up to that in the introduction before the introdu

Lauren is back this week to help Kevin and Andrew discuss, Scrambled, & Juliet, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Freelance, and Grounded II: The Making of The Last of Us Part II. The the guys are left to discuss LOST season 4!! Lauren kicks off the show talking about the new film, Scrambled. You will quickly notice that this is probably not something that Andrew or Kevin would have had on their radar, so Lauren is immediately bringing some class to this one! It's about a woman's experience in the process of freezing her eggs. It sounds very interesting and comes highly recommended for anyone considering the process or for anyone that might know someone about to go through it! Andrew then gets to close out the APNC Saltburn discussion now that he's actually seen the film! He has some interesting takes, especially about Felix. All in all, it is still coming highly recommended (though very weird) from the APNC team! Next up, Lauren takes center stage again with her review of the new musical, & Juliet. It's a fun pop

This week, Andrew and Kevin cover Saltburn, Monarch, Fool Me Once, and also gets back into LOST. But they won't do (some of) it alone! They are joined this week by a long time friend on Andrew's, Lauren. She's very sharp and is up on all of her pop culture goodness! After a nice "getting to know you" session, Lauren and Kevin discuss the psychological thriller, Saltburn. It's an absolutely crazy film and has a lot of buzz around it and they both seemed to like it, so why not try to sell Andrew on it? They also discuss the hit TV series The Handmaids Tale among other things before Lauren hops off. Left without Adult supervision, Kevin tells Andrew about the new Harlen Coben mystery on Netflix, Fool Me Once. It's a very solid mystery/thriller and it's a quick and easy watch and has a lot of twists and turns and is definitely worth the watch if mysteries are your jam. Next up, the guys discuss the Apple TV Monsterverse series, Monarch. The guys definitely enjoyed it... mostly. They did have some issues and they

This week Kevin goes over American Nightmare on Netflix, Percy Jackson and the Olympians on Disney+, Death and Other Details on Hulu, Self Reliance (also on Hulu), and quickly talks about The Last of Us Part 2 Remastered. The episode starts of with a bit of a history lesson with American Nightmare.  It's a 3 part documentary about the infamous "Gone Girl" kidnapping in 2015 in California. Kevin doesn't usually do documentaries, but this one grabbed his attention because it was a story he thought he knew. As it turns out, he really didn't. It's a fascinating look into what can go wrong in a high profile case and is definitely worth a watch. Next up he covers the new Percy Jackson series over on Disney+. It's an adaption of the popular book series and a more faithful version than the 2012 film. It's definitely targeted at the younger set, but Kevin gives it a thumbs up anyways. Just go in knowing that and it's pretty enjoyable.  After that family friendly fare he jumps into the more adult series Death and Other

It's time to talk about Mean Girls, Echo, Lessons in Chemistry, Saltburn, Slow Horses, and superhero burnout. But Kevin can't do it alone so he's joined by Jen this week and our special "High School Experience" correspondent, Sydney.  The show starts right away with Jen and Sydney talking about the new Mean Girls Musical Movie. It's a great review and Sydney brings some fantastic insight, especially with regards to the music side of things. Both Jen and Sydney enjoyed the movie but they do differ on some parts so that sparks a lively conversation. Before jumping into Echo, Kevin quickly drops some numbers on just why superhero burnout might be a thing at this point. The sheer amount of product in our face in the last decade is staggering. That being said, he really enjoyed Echo and wants everyone to give it a go! Back to Jen and Sydney and they quickly cover Lessons in Chemistry starring Brie Larson. They really enjoyed that and even it's heavy early twist. They recommended it to Kevin who, at the time of thi

There's a lot coming in 2024 and to list it all in the description would totally defeat the point of the episode! Needless to say, there is a boatload of content coming this year and Kevin, left all by his lonesome, tells you what he's most interested in for this year. In a roundabout way, everyone but Pete shares their lists, too! Because he's only human, Kevin can't cover everything, so there is also a more comprehensive list at the end as you listen to the majestic APNC theme song. Here's to a magnifecent 2024! Cheers! As always, thank you for watching. If you haven't already, don't forget to Like & Subscribe. We love new viewers! Also, leave us comments and let is know how we are doing and what we can be doing better. Enjoy the episode and have a great week! Facebook: @apncpodcast Twitter: @APNCPodcast Instagram: AllPopNoCulture

This week it's just Andrew and Kevin and they cover Rebel Moon, The Curse, Poker Face, Genie, and The Best Christmas Ever! They manage to keep it relatively tight in spite of the amount of content and a good portion of it is dedicated to Rebel Moon. The show kicks off with Andrew jumping right into it. He liked the movie more than the critics did (not hard to do, really...) and, as the discussion goes on, it seems like Kevin did, too. He doesn't like it as much as Andrew, but he gives it higher praise than most other recent Snyder films. Andrew even takes a minute to compare the film to the '80s film, Battle Beyond the Stars, which is an eerily similar plot! Next up Kevin talks about the Showtime series, The Curse. It's an A24 series and it's an art piece, so VERY subjective. And with Kevin the subject, he's very critical of it. It's an interesting series that he'll watch all of but he's not sure he can actually recommend it to anyone. So with that, watch at your own risk! While Andrew gathers his notes, Kevi

On the docket this week is Leave the World Behind, Godzilla Minus One, Wonka, How To Be A Mob Boss, a Christmas episode preview, and more! It's an all new configuration this week, too, as Salony is back on the show and Jen finally decided to show up, too. Alongside Kevin and Andrew, it makes for a very classy show. Until they run away, one by one, leaving the guys to their usual mischief. The reason for all the camaraderie, of course, is Leave the World Behind. It's a new end-of-the-world-type movie and everyone watched. The gang goes around the horn with general thoughts before breaking everything down together. It's a great conversation with some great insights from everyone. It actually seems like we have SOME culture on the show after all. After that conversation, Salony jumps off and leaves Jen to tell the boys about Wonka. To everyone's surprise (even Jen's) it really wasn't that bad of a film. At this point, Kevin and Andrew may even jump on an check it out. When Jen is done spinning her Wonka tale, An

It's a quick one this week since Kevin is all alone and there is no one to tell him his ideas are foolish. The episode kicks off with the first ever full on sales pitch, with Kevin having fallen in love with his Backbone for iPhone (you can buy one here, even if you use Android: https://www.playbackbone.com ) Of course he bought it so he could spend more time gaming so that leads into his quick review of Starfield, now out on PC and XBox (and his iPhone using his Backbone. Just sayin'...). He's pretty hooked on the game and would definitely love for you to check it out, too! To close out the gaming bit of his unsupervised episode, he also covers the trailer for the new Fallout series coming to Prime in 2024. Next up, Kevin sticks with games, but of the reality variety rather than the video variety. He and his kids have been watching The Squid Game Challenge on Netflix, a real life (non-lethal) version of the popular Netflix show. Guests compete for a whopping $4.56M grand prize in a show that has been quite e

This week is a hearty one. The gang covers The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, Blue Beetle, Blue Eye Samurai, Monarch Legacy of Monsters, and more! It kicks off with Andrew and Jen talking about the newest Hunger Games flick, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. It's really interesting to hear how this prequel story ties and just how much they enjoyed it. Kevin hasn't seen it yet, but his interest is certainly piqued.  Next up, Kevin discusses Blue Beetle, which just dropped on Max. If you'll recall, Andrew saw this in theaters and thoroughly enjoyed. As it turns out, Kevin and his kids did not... There's a hearty debate about it and we definitely leave this one to the commenters to tell us what they think! After that, Kevin and Andrew talk about Monarch - Legacy of Monsters on Apple TV. They both love that it's a human centered story and it's off to a great start. This also leads into a quick discussion of some other Apple TV shows Andrew should be watching now that he has the service. If you have any others

This week the guys cover so many endings! The end of Attack on Titan, Loki, Season 3 of The Boys, and Season 1 of Gen V. They also cover The Marvels and Invincible and, of course, some bonus content because they love their tangents. They kick off with something beginning rather than ending, though, in The Marvels, just released in the theaters this last weekend. While The film struggled at this weekend, both guys really enjoyed it and share their thoughts on why. Next up, they dig into the season/series finale of Loki. This one hits with a lot of feels and sets up a lot of the future of the MCU, so the guys dig into that a bit before moving on to The Boys, Gen V, and Invincible, which Kevin is now completely caught up on and Andrew is nearly caught up on. Before jumping into the meatiest part of the talk, Attack on Titan, Kevin quickly throws a review in for Quiz Lady on Hulu, starring Sandra Oh and Awkwafina. Hint: go watch it! To finish off the show, they dig into the finale to the 10 year run of Attack on

We have an emotional roller coaster this week with a ton of stuff, including more of Loki, Five Nights at Freddy's, and the passing of Matthew Perry. The guys also mix in some Gen V and Old Dads talk as well. Despite security precautions, Pete is back this week and jumps right in, practically begging for a FNAF review. Kevin obliges and discusses a bit of the lore as well as who this film is really targeted at. He enjoyed it enough and the box office numbers suggests we can expect a sequel in the future. Next up, Andrew gets in his wayback machine and talks about the 1980 monster flick, Alligator. While being very Sharknado-esque and really not great, he still enjoyed it and it's worth a watch if those types are your jam. This leads Kevin to talk about the new Lil Rel Howery film, The Mill. It's certainly less fun than Alligator is probably skippable.  Next up, the 3 talk about the new film, Old Dads, starring Bill Burr, Bobby Cannavale, and Bokeem Woodbine. It's at least a decent film depending on which of t

Andrew is back this week and the guys keep the content tighter this time with Loki, Ahsoka, The Fall of the House of Usher,  Hippest Trip - The Soul Train Musical, Pearl, The Thing (2011), and John Carpenter's Suburban Screams. The show kicks off with the guys talking about the finale of the first (and last?) season of Ahsoka. There's a lot of great stuff to cover including the future of the very dynamic charatcter, Baylan Skoll. Next up, Kevin talks about the recent horror films, Pearl, The Thing (2011), and the new docuseries John Carpenter's Suburban Screams. These are generally a hit, but there is a miss in here. Which one? Listen and find our? When he's done going on about all that, Kevin and Andrew the move on to the start of Loki season 2. It's early going, but the guys are really enjoying it so far. There is a lot of road to travel with several episodes to go, but there is a lot of promise here. Kevin then goes on to talk about the latest from Mike Flanagan, The Fall of the House of Usher. If you like

It's all about Totally Killer, One Piece, and a whole kitchen sink of horror and suspense films. Why? Because Andrew is out again and if you leave him for another week, Kevin will have way too much to talk about!! The episode kicks off with Kevin discussing the new Netflix show, One Piece. It's based on an insanely long running anime that he's never seen, but that doesn't stop him from loving the show! Next up, Kevin discusses a couple of major gaps in his classic horror film watch history, The Exorcist and The Thing. Yup, two absolute classics and this fool hasn't seen either one. Rest assured, though, that he loved both of them! Next up, sticking with older horror, Hulu presented Kevin with 2 made for TV Stephen King classics, Rose Red and Storm of the Century. As these were both made for TV they hit a little different then the previous two classics, but they hold their own when needed. As we move into more modern horror and suspense, he covers As Above So Below, Wilderness, Watcher, Fair Play, and The Boog

This week kicks off with the latest episode of Ahsoka, then jumps into TMNT Mutant Mayhem, and then heads into No One WIll Save You before finishing off with some solid tangent talk! Episode 6 of Ahsoka is a BANGER and Kevin and Andrew dive in pretty hard. Obviously there is love for the episode overall, but there is a lot of conversation around where the show is going and what it all means, including some wild fan theories! Next up, the guys talk TMNT Mutant Mayhem. This is a rare one for Andrew as comedy and kids animation is not his jam. We won't make you wait here, he actually really enjoyed it, so the discussion on it is a lot of fun. Before getting into what's coming up in the next several weeks, Kevin takes the time to talk about the new film, No One Will Save You on Hulu, starring the excellent Kaitlyn Dever. He is a huge fan of her work and this film definitely highlights her skill, while being something very different at the same time! As always, thank you for watching. If you haven't already, don't

In a very special extra episode this week, Andrew and Kevin collaborate with our friend Jax over at Ravens & Writing Desks to watch Skinamarink! We've never done a full collaboration before so we thought it would be an excellent chance to give it a go. Jax was kind enough to run the show and this video is also posted over on her channel, so if you found us from her page, THANK YOU!!!  If you enjoy this video at all, please head over to HER page and give it a follow and see some of the great interviews she's done, especially now that it's spooky season and she tends to work with some great gothic horror authors. Of course the main focus of this episode is the film Skinamarink and the general consensus is, well... it''s a film... There is at least a little variety on reception and definitely some quality discussion about what this film means in the larger picture of horror films in general.  If you enjoyed our talk with Jax and want to get more involved, we listed her YouTube channel above, but you can also

This week the guys cover Ahsoka, A swath of A24 horror films, Several '80s movies, Dear Child, and more! Kevin had a lot of time on his hands with the week off and he seemingly watched everything under the sun. He kicks off the show talking about the horror classic, Rosemary's Baby. Oddly enough, as it will eventually lead into talk about other A24 films, but Rosermary's Baby has a very modern day A24 feel to it. Next up the guys jump into Ahsoka, primarily episode 5 and all of the deep history it brings in. They talk about the redemption of Hayden Christensen as Anakin and what this all means for the show now and going forward. Next up, Kevin goes into his A24 rant talking about several A24 modern classics such as, The WItch, Men, The Blackcoat's Daughter, Saint Maud, The Killing of a Sacred Deer, and Under the Skin For once he makes it relatively brief, despite all the content and gets the ball back to Andrew to dicuss the first season of Foundation, which we are hoping to have a full episod on in the next

This week it's just Kevin and Jen and they get into the new raunchy canine comedy Strays, as well as the new Sandler flick, You are So Not Invited To My Bat Mitzvah. Jen kicks it off talking about Strays, which sounds like a very adult good time. For what it's worth, it sounds like it maybe isn't quite as good as No Hard Feelings, but Jen was laughing the whole time, so that's not the worst thing.  Kevin then jumps into his usual rant about bad movies and this week covers the XXX franchise starring Vin Diesel and Ice Cube. He then goes deeper down the bad fil hole and talks about the abomination that is The Spirit. Oof... Next up they get into "Adam Sandler's" next movie, You Are So Not Invited To My Bat Mitzvah. You'll understand the quotes when you watch the episode, but it's for a reason! Also, the Sandler kids are great! The show finishes with some discussion about upcoming horror films and the plethora of films at least one of the two has missed over the years. As always, thank you for watching. If you h

This week Kevin and Andrew stay relevant for at least half the show,  talking about the Rebel Moon trailer, The Flash, Ahsoka, and more. Of course Kevin derails that a bit with a few older shows, but what can you do with this guy? The guys start off talking about the new Rebel moon trailer. This is Zach Snyder's "Star Wars" movie and it's very Snyder-y. If that's your jam, you might be excited about it. If you are Kevin, maybe not so much... This leads Kevin into talking about The Flash which just dropped on HBO Max this week. Despite his expectations, he didnt like the film as much as Andrew. That said, and despite his not so glowing review of it, he didnt hate it, either. Next up, Kevin passes the baton of garbage films to Andrew who doesn't walk but absolutely sprints with it, having watched Showgirls this week. Despite sex appeal of Jessie Spannow, the film holds up as well as expected, which is to say, it does not. Kevin steers the ship back to right after a slow start talking about the 2009 disaster fil